Bogus kung fu master is not mentally ill, say police

The kung fu martial artist Juan Carlos Aguilar, who faces murder charges in connection with the deaths of two women, is mentally fit and not suffering from any psychiatric condition, according to a medical report prepared by the Basque police.

Aguilar, 47, was arrested in Bilbao on Sunday after neighbors reported hearing the cries of a woman inside his gym. The regional Ertzainta police found Mauren Ada Ortuya tied up and severely beaten. The 29-year-old Nigerian national died on Wednesday after spending several days in a coma.

Police identified a second woman, Jenny Sofía Rebollo, 40, as another possible victim. Rebollo, a Colombian national, had called her mother in Colombia to say that she "was very happy" because she had been offered a job giving massages at a local gym and would soon be able to send money back home.

"My sister was always happy, she would always talk and laugh with us," said Rebollo's sister Yira in an interview with the daily Meridiano de Córdoba. They last spoke was on May 21.

Aguilar reportedly told police that he may have killed a woman on May 31 but he wasn't sure. The police medical report states that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago.

At the same time, more details have emerged about Aguilar. Witnesses said that he often frequented a bar across the street from his house and may have met the women there.

One client doesn't think that Rebollo and Ortuya ever met because the Colombian woman often went alone. "It was a normal bar; it wasn't any type of nightclub or strip club," the client said.

The bar has since been closed for different violations, the police said.

If convicted Aguilar could be sentenced to up to 25 years for each murder.